Return to Normal
by me-ninjakitty
Summary: Sometimes returning to the way things were is harder than one first thought but with an extra push perhaps these two can begin again.


So another story from Sasusaku month. I'll admit I was very worried about this story, it has a serious tone to it compared to my others but people seemed to like it and someone even asked for it to be posted here, so here it is.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN.

Sasuke collapsed next to Sakura not caring if he wasn't being gracefully at all. Their target was lying limply and on the brink of death in the middle of the clearing. Every one of Sasuke's muscles complained as he had made his way across to Sakura's collapsed body on the other side of the clearing. They had been tracking this Missing-nin for a month now and they had finally caught up.

He remembered when the Hokage had first told him he was getting paired up with Sakura for this mission; he had flat out refused. Sure he acknowledged that Sakura was a brilliant medic-nin and that her strength, especially when aided by her chakra control, was something to be feared but for this mission he was sure she was going to more of a hindrance than a help. But Kakashi had told him that Sakura was his assigned partner for this mission and unless he wanted to stand down for someone else to go, say Sai, he would have to deal with it.

Sasuke finally really looked at Sakura. Her left arm was on an angle that no arm was meant to take. Having taken a particularly nasty water jutsu head on just to be given an opening to administer her own deadly poison, various blue and purple marks were starting to appear across her porcelain skin. They had discovered into their third month of hunting that this particular Missing-nin was a poison specialist as well as being a genjutsu master. The nin had managed to poison Sakura during that particular encounter and he had been surprised when afterwards she had used an extraction technique to remove the majority of the poison. Looking at her again, he hoped that she hadn't been poisoned again.

She was a wreck, but so was he.

Finally, Sasuke allowed himself to look down at himself and could see blood seeping out of a nasty cut that ran down his left thigh. It had certainly slowed him down and now that he was concentrating on it he could feel a numbness spreading throughout his leg and slowly up his body. He supposed idly that he was poisoned. His shoulder had some damage to it, especially after his crude re-locating of his dislocated shoulder joint.

Deciding it was better to ignore the smaller cuts and scrapes he had gained Sasuke sighed and looked up at the clear blue sky. Kakashi had been correct, he had apparently needed Sakura for this mission. Her poison whatever it had been had not only slowed the guy down but his speech had become impaired and his ability to form seals with his fingers had been other helpful side effects.

After the war and his return to Konoha Sakura had kept him at a distance; she hadn't hated him but she hadn't loved him either. Kakashi had stated that he had put her through enough pain that even though she still loved him she was still too hurt to trust him. Sasuke hadn't really known what to do with this bit of knowledge. They had both tried to kill each other at some point during the war but the fact that she stilled loved him had surprised him. You don't kill the ones you love, right? Sai, the replacement, had stated that there are times where killing the one you love is the only option if it means saving them. Even then that hadn't made sense to him.

They had spent months of only ever talking to each other if Naruto or Kakashi were there. They had used the two as a buffer; Sakura because she had needed someone to help her deal with her pain and Sasuke because he didn't know how to talk to her. The years that had followed this pattern stayed until they were forced to deal with just each other. Tthe first time they were alone and had to talk had been at his physical. By the end of it Sakura had slapped him and stated that even though it would only ever he a fraction of the pain he had given her she needed to move on and that they needed to be friends.

Sasuke hadn't fully understood her logic but he soon learnt that when it came to him, Sakura had trouble being open and 100% honest. If it was Naruto or Sai who did something that she didn't like she would literally take her anger out on them but when it came to him she was certainly more reserved. Her smiles around the others were more vibrant and occurred often but all he could get was a small weak smile out of her. She always treated him differently to others.

Sasuke wondered if after all this would she change? During this mission so far she had slowly opened up and been more up front with him about her opinions. If there was something about his plan she didn't like she told him so. He figured that the trust that had had when they had been genin was slowly returning. It was-

"Sas-Sasuke," Sakura's groggy voice broke through his thoughts.

He looked down at Sakura, who was smiling up at him. Really smiling at him.

"Did we win?" she asked.

"Aa," was his reply.

"Good. Can we go home now?"

"Aa."

She slowly tried to lift herself into a sitting position and after a few attempts was successful. Steady herself she sat there for a few moments.

"That certainly doesn't look good," she commented as she finally noticed her arm, giving it an inquisitive poke. "I've never seen an arm go out on an angle like that before. That's gonna take some time to fix."

It took a few minutes but Sasuke realised that she was talking more to herself than to him.

"What about you?" she asked turning her attention to him before running a critical eye over him, stopping at the cut in his leg and leaned in close to it. "Shit Sasuke, there's poison in that cut. Why didn't you say something?"

A glowing green hand ran over his wound and her frown started to deepen as she discovered how far the poison had spread. Fumbling for her drink bottle that was mostly empty, she poured the contents into her hand using her chakra to keep it in a ball. She glanced at him and then mumbled an apology at the crudeness of what she was about to do.

Sasuke felt a sharp and blinding pain as Sakura started her work. As the pain got worse he felt himself start to slip into unconsciousness.

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><p>When Sasuke came to he noticed that he was staring at a white ceiling, or at least it had once been white. Muffled sounds were coming outside the room but nothing that caught his attention. He glanced down at his body and noticed that he was bandaged up and lying in a bed that had stale sheets. Trying to sit up he had to stop when a sharp pain shot up his torso causing him grunt as he flopped back onto the bed.<p>

"You're awake," drifted Sakura's voice from a doorway to his left.

Sakura appeared at his side and he noticed her broken arm was now bandaged and in a sling and that her bruising had mostly faded. She was smiling at him again.

"It took me a while but I managed to make an antidote for that poison, you've been out of it for a week now," Sakura stated as she inspected his bandages. "Kakashi is sending a team to collect us, they should be here tomorrow, I think."

"Aa," he replied before trying to sit up again. Suddenly Sakura moved to help him up and settle what he thought was her pack behind him.

"Sorry but the pillows in this room weren't sanitary enough to be used as pillows so our packs are the best we can do," Sakura explained as she moved back next to him. "You had me worried there for a while. It took me forever to drag you here and then trying to keep you stable when you still had some of the poison in you and not to mention your shoulder. Whatever you did didn't pop it back into place you know. You also managed to come down with a fever too, which could have been a side effect of the poison though. But thankfully you'll-"

"Sakura," Sasuke interrupted her.

Sakura stopped and looked at him questioningly.

"Sakura. I'm glad you were on this mission. Without you-"

"Shhhhhh," Sakura hushed him as a blush spread across her cheeks. "You don't need to say it. I know you didn't want me on this mission but I'm glad you let me, even if Kakashi did bribe you."

Sasuke nodded as the silence of the room started to surround them again. He looked at her and she smiled at him again. It was the sort of smile that she gave the others. One that was full of sunshine. Perhaps this was the start of them healing? They were both a mess when it came to each other and while they couldn't go back to the past and have things the way they were when they were genin. They could at least move forward and work towards starting a new beginning.

* * *

><p>I do hope you enjoyed.<p> 


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